This invention generally relates to a lavage/suction tip for supplying and irrigating fluid to, and withdrawing by suction, unwanted fluid and debris from a surgical operating site. More particularly, this invention relates to the use of a shielding means to eliminate splashback of fluid from the surgical site.
Handheld lavage/suction devices have long been used in surgical and dental procedures for various purposes at the operating site or wound to facilitate the cleaning and irrigation of the wound or site. When such devices are used to direct fluid toward a surface such as a bone surface (i.e. an acetabular surface or a tibial plateau surface during joint replacement surgery) the debriding action needed to clean the surface creates a splashback of the fluid. This splashback is undesirable as it is messy and results in fluid splashing back on the operator of the lavage/suction device as well as on the floor and elsewhere. Such splashback could also result in a tendency for cross contamination problems.
Splash shields, such as a flat, substantially rigid, round planar disc shield, have been utilized with lavage/suction devices. This separate flat disc includes a centrally located hole therethrough enabling the single disc to be fitted about the distal end of a tubular lavage tip or nozzle. This type of shield, while preventing the fluid from splashing back on the user, does not contain the fluid in any way, and therefore fluid may still splash elsewhere about the surgical site.
Other known types of splash shields include flared disc-shaped or cone-shaped splash shields, or truncated cone or cylindrical shaped splash shields. These types of shields are typically substantially rigid and are generally provided as separate items from the tips, each including a hole at one end for attachment of a single shield to the distal end of a tubular lavage tip. These types of shields are typically relatively large shields, limiting their use and limiting visualization. These shields are also typically not designed to contact the working or surgical site.
Other examples of fluid delivery-type devices or instruments having a single flared shield member or the like are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,178,898 to Young; 1,602,215 to Smith; 1,889,425 to Sorensen; 2,771,072 to DeMontauge; 4,301,798 to Anderson and 4,465,479 to Meisch.